Leading hard-left Democratic leaders want to stick with Biden. Why?
Joe Biden’s claim that it’s members of the party “elite” who are clamoring for him to step down, against the wishes of rank-and-file Democrats, has been widely ridiculed. And it does seem absurd.
But there are several strands of evidence to support it. First, in a YouGov poll conducted about a week after the June 27 debate, 47 percent of Democrats and independents who lean Democrat said they favored Biden over Harris to be the Democratic candidate for president. Only 32 percent supported Harris.
Second, major unions support Biden. The United Steelworkers, Communications Workers of America, Laborers’ International Union of North America, and Unite Here (hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse, and casino gaming workers) have told the Washington Post that they support Biden. Other unions doing the same include the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, also stands with Biden. Indeed, Steve Smith, a spokesperson for the AFL-CIO says, “I have not seen any indication that any of our union leaders have at all backed off from [their] support [for Biden].”
Hollywood may be bailing on Biden. Liberal pundits, as well. But so far, organized labor isn’t.
Third, some of Biden’s most vocal support among Democratic politicians is coming from the hard left, not the party establishment. Bernie Sanders was one of the first to say, unequivocally, that he stands with Biden. The Vermont socialist has declined to participate in discussions among Senate Democrats to consider whether to try to push Biden aside.
The two most prominent members of “the Squad” have also decided to stick with Biden. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Biden is the nominee and she considers the matter “closed.”
Biden also enjoys the support of Ilhan Omar, despite her frequent criticism of his handling of the war in Gaza. She told reporters, “[Biden] been the best president of my lifetime and we have his back.” We can also add Maxine Waters and Ayanna Pressley to the list of leftist Dems who support Biden.
It’s true that not all of those standing firmly with Biden are from the hard left. And one can disagree about whether this or that leading Dems should be categorized as part of the “elite.”
On the whole, however, it seems clear that Biden has the support of leading party hard leftists and outsiders; that most traditional party leaders have been hedging their bets; and that Hollywood and the pundit class want to dump Biden.
To me, the most interesting question is why the party’s far-left leaders are so solidly behind Biden. If Biden were to be replaced, Kamala Harris would almost certainly get the nod. Harris’ roots are on the left. Biden’s are not. Currently she seems at least as leftist as Biden, maybe more so.
What, then, explains the support of Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, et al. for the president? I don’t have the answer — only a few possible explanations, none of which seems all that convincing.
Maybe the leftists quickly concluded that pushing Biden aside is a longshot; that an unsuccessful attempt to accomplish this only reduces the odds of Biden winning; and that Harris’ chance of winning the general election would not be any better than Biden’s. But why would the hard left’s calculations on matters like these diverge from those of the party elite?
Maybe the leftists see an opportunity here. With members of the party elite hesitating to back Biden, and in some cases turning against him, the left can perhaps become more influential at the White House if Biden somehow manages to win in November. But do they really think Biden has much of a chance of winning?
Maybe the hard left, driven as it is by pure lust for power, gives less weight than members of the elite to the downside of electing a president whose mental capacity has sharply diminished and will probably diminish rapidly during the next four years. I don’t doubt that the leftists are ignoring the fitness-to-be-president side of the equation. But I’m not sure members of the party’s elite care about Biden’s fitness to serve, either.
Maybe it’s just that, as Omar says, Biden has been very good to the left. Harris might be just as good or a little better, but she’s less of a known quantity.
This is the simplest explanation, and maybe the best. But if I were a left-wing Democrat, I’d want a fresher, more forceful champion than Biden, and one with a stronger traditional attachment to the left. Even with her shortcomings, I’d probably prefer Harris.
In the end, I can’t really explain the strong support Biden is receiving from the hard left. Maybe our readers can.
First, as people opposed to the American system as it exists, they don't care about the damage a deeply diminished president can do both at home and especially abroad where they hope to see Israel destroyed and American power fully emasculated. Second they probably don't really care if Trump wins given that they likely see chaos and division as a positive for their project of destroying our system as we know it. Third, like much of MAGA on the right, they reflexively oppose ANYTHING so called elites call for. I'm sure there are other reasons as well.
I think that they think that after a defeat they can move the party even further left yet again, and that they can depend on the bureaucracy to "hold the line" while they do this.